I GOT an electricity bill of Rs45,000 for January. I live in a small apartment and to me this hefty amount was obviously a misprint. This thought kept me relaxed.

To rectify the overbilling, I reached Wapda’s office in Samnabad, as I live on Ferozpur Road. After two hours of going from desk to desk I was surprised to learn that this bill was error-free and this heavy amount is the fine which has been levied because my meter was found to be tilted on Jan 23 upon random checking.

This was astounding as I could not even imagine tilting or even touching my meter. When I contacted a senior official in Wapda, he told me on the condition of anonymity that this was a common practice by the utility meant to meet Wapda’s deficit.

It is indeed distressing that a public utility’s deficits are squeezed out of the poor to accommodate the powerful who do not bother to pay their energy bills.

I am a student of a public sector institution and cannot pay this unjust sum.

This is rather a government-assisted unlawful practice.

Ahmad Usama

Lahore

Published in Dawn March 10th , 2015

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